Have you ever walked into a room and forgotten why you did it in the first place? There was something important you came to get, but by the time you climbed the stairs and crossed the threshold, it seemed less important. It’s not important enough to remember anyway. It’s a disorienting feeling isn’t it?
Sometimes prayer feels like that. We know we’re supposed to do it. We set aside the time and get settled in our comfy chair. Maybe we have a Bible open and a cup of coffee. Or maybe it comes with a dim reading light just before bed. But now what? What are we supposed to pray for?
At the beginning of the Lord’s prayer, Jesus teaches us who we’re praying to. In the remaining verses, Jesus teaches us what to pray for. The first thing we pray for? His coming kingdom.
Jesus preached on the Kingdom of God more than any other topic. So, what is it? The Kingdom of God is God’s reign over this world. It’s his victory over sin and death. It’s his gathering a beloved people for his own possession.
But if that answer doesn’t help you a whole lot, I get it. The Kingdom of God is a huge topic! How do we pray for the coming of this kingdom on a day-to-day basis? Praying for God’s kingdom to come means praying for the reign of God to saturate every crevice of creation.
1. Pray for the Church – The church is God’s gathered people on earth and every local congregation is an embassy of his kingdom. Pray for our churches to be devoted to the Lord, seeking to follow him more than our sinful desires.
2. Pray for Missionaries – The gospel is the good news of God’s kingdom: God saves sinners. Missionaries are people who leave the comfort of their own culture and bring that good news to others. Pray for boldness, compassion, and wisdom to do it well.
3. Pray for Peace – Peace in the Bible is much more than an absence of conflict. Peace is the right ordering of all things. It’s when everything is as it should be. This is what we’re talking about when we call Jesus the Prince of Peace. By paying the penalty for sin, Jesus is bringing renewal to everything. We see it in part as he works now, but we’ll see it completely when he returns. In the meantime, we pray for this blood-bought peace. Two ways we can pray for peace is in relief to suffering people and for justice for the exploited.
The Bible ends with a powerful picture of the Kingdom of God. The end of Revelation describes the end of time and, by this point, the Kingdom of God is no longer coming. It has come. Revelation 21:3-4 says, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
When we pray for the kingdom, we pray for that day. Come, Lord Jesus.